Costa Rica? Belize?

[Beeps (WOT?*)]

Anyone been? I've been wanting to go for a very long time and LivingSocial has a deal which has gotten me itching again. I've also considered Belize as another option. DH wants to go on a much-needed vacation so I thought I'd give him some "passport required" options (although USVI was kind of thrown out there at one point.)

Thoughts on either would be appreciated. I'm thinking Thanksgiving weekend so I have an excuse to not cook for the family.

[sarahsas]

Belize for a relaxing beach vacation.
Costa Rica if you want a more adventurous vacation.

You can do beach in CR too, but if you just want to sit on the beach, I'd go to Belize.

[Deleted]

We loved Belize!! We will definitely be retutning. CR we also liked, but I doubt I'll ever get back there.

[CloudBee]

I agree with above - Belize is pretty relaxed, and there isn't much in the form of organized activity.

[ILikeSloths]

I've never been to Belize, but my H and I had a blast in Costa Rica. Like the PP said, there are a lot of activities if you're adventurous. We also enjoyed the beaches in the Manuel Antonio area.

[preppy]

I went to Belize for 10 days in Jan/Feb and it was amazing! We spent 3 nights in the jungle and 6 on ambergris caye and we did a TON of activities. It is very relaxing but we also went cave tubing, zip lining, snorkeling, hiking, sailing, fishing...it was a blast and then on days we wanted to chill out it was great for that too. If you decide on Belize I have a ton of suggestions!

[SJ]

We spent our honeymoon in Guatemala & Belize and have also visited Costa Rica.

I think we are in the minority, but we did not care for Belize very much. There was much better food & culture in Guatemala & Costa Rica. I loved Guatemala. Antigua is a beautiful town, there is Lake Atitlan and lots to see and do. We enjoy just wandering and experiencing culture though. We are not resort people and don't like the "bubble" experience.

In Costa Rica we were on the Pacific coast in a BEAUTIFUL villa owned by family friends. It was divine. We did tubing, horseback riding, zip lining, and other such "adventurous" things.

ETA: I will say that the ATM Cave in Belize is incredible and absolutely worth a visit (more of a jungle vibe). We rented a place in Placencia in Belize and that is the part that we weren't that impressed with. We didn't go to Caye Caulker which I hear nothing but raves about, so maybe that would be worth a visit.

[anaps28]

Jun 26, 2012 17:27:05 GMT -5 sarahsas said:

Belize for a relaxing beach vacation.
Costa Rica if you want a more adventurous vacation.

You can do beach in CR too, but if you just want to sit on the beach, I'd go to Belize.

this exactly

[ralphlauren]

I loved CR so much. It was amazing

[blackkitty]

I just got back from Costa Rica last week and had an awesome time!

[wanderlustmom]

I've been to both and loved both and I agree with the poster who said Belize can be a very active vacation if you want it to be.

In Belize, we loved Caye Caulker and did a bunch of snorkeling and ate delicious crab. We also went to an area near the rainforest, San Ignacio, and loved canoeing, cave snorkeling and hiking. In Guatemala, we loved Tikal. Belize was super affordable and the water was gorgeous.

Costa Rica was a more expensive for sure, but easier travel, we loved Arenal, Monteverde and Manuel Antono. We loved seeing the volcano, zip lines (best in the world), rainforest, horseback riding, white water rafting.